


Punked

by Battlefox



Category: Critical Role, Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, CR - Freeform, College, Punk Rock, Punk band, Rock Band, Slow Burn, critical role - Freeform, critrole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 09:56:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9175207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Battlefox/pseuds/Battlefox
Summary: College bites, but life bites harder. Vox Machina is a college Punk Band that just lost their bass player. Desperate for help, they take on a new member in the form of Percy De Rolo. Between homework, Band practice, and just living life, things can get pretty crazy.





	

“It's no use,” Vex'halia grimaced, throwing her phone down onto the couch. Her brother glanced up as she made the turn around the furniture and flopped down beside him. Her brow was set into a deep glower, and she looked anything but pleased.

“He's gone and made his own band now,” She growled, turning her heated gaze to glare at the wall of their tiny shared apartment, “I mean, honestly, I get his reasoning- but where the hell are we going to find another Bass player?”

Vax'ildan snorted softly, “What, with your looks? Just go down to the music hall and flutter your lashes at the first pimply music nerd you see, and we'll have another.”

“Wow, brother, so kind,” Vex replied in a flat tone. She leaned back, throwing her arms across the back of the couch. Her dark hair partially fell over the back edge, falling to about halfway down the back of the couch. She watched the ceiling, her eyes tracing the edges of the water stain above her. The room fell silent apart from the sound of Vax's bag of chips crinkling as he skimmed through the notifications on his computer. Approximately three chips later, Vax turned to his twin, and raised a single brow.  
“Don't you have class in, like, ten minutes?”

“No?” Vex turned her head to him with a confused frown, “It's Tuesday.”

“No,” Vax raised his second brow to match the height of the first, “It's Wednesday.”

“Fuck-Shit-Hell-Fucking--” There were few phrases in the world that would have gotten Vex moving faster than what he'd just spoken. Within moments she was clinging to an armful of books and bolting for the door.  
“You're welcome!” Vax shouted after her, though she hardly heard it. She was too focused on just working her legs fast enough to get out of the apartment. Vex'halia managed to get out the door, down the hall, and down the stairs in an impressively short period of time. Getting out of the apartment building was just the start, though. Her next class, chemistry, was completely across campus. Not only that, but the apartment complex itself was about a five minute walk away from the closest buildings. This meant that Vex'halia would have to run the entire distance to even imagine getting into class on time. And being late absolutely was NOT an option.

By the time Vex reached the doorway of room 308 in the chemistry building, her breath was drawing claws across her lungs, and her legs were nothing more than numb sticks duct taped to her hips. She panted, scanning the room, and sank into the only seat that was left open. The person beside her moved a little to allow her space, and she closed her eyes in relief as the professor walked in after her. She'd made it.

The professor, after taking a moment to settle into the front of the room, began his lecture, and the class shuffled into attention, shifting pencils and starting to take notes. Vex, after struggling to return to a normal breathing pattern, eventually managed to tug her notebook from the stack of materials she'd brought with her. After a moment, however, she realized, of all things, she'd forgotten a pencil. She was about to just let out a frustrated sound and give up, when a small yellow stick floated into her vision. Vex blinked, then her vision focused on the pencil. She glanced over to see the guy next to her watching her with a raised brow.  
“Just assuming you need one,” He said after clearing his throat, his eyes darting away from hers from beneath golden circular frames.

“Oh, yeah, I... er.. do. Thanks,” Vex muttered, quickly taking the pencil, and focusing back on the front of the class. The guy next to her visibly relaxed, and leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be taking notes lazily in some kind of small leather sketchbook, and he didn't even watch the page as he wrote. Vex couldn't help but steal a couple of glances at him. She'd seen him before, but only in passing. He was a tall, gangly thing, with a prominent nose and hair white as wool. She'd always assumed it had been bleached out, but now that she was this close, she was surprised to realize that it was entirely natural.

She was just moving her eyes across the three piercings in his dark brows when his piercing eyes met hers. She quickly looked away, busying herself with notes. Pink dusted her cheeks as she tried to pretend that she'd been paying any attention to the teacher at all.

However, she'd hardly made her motions to take notes when the guy next to her asked softly, “You're Vex'halia, aren't you?”

She looked back again, surprised to hear her name in his light british accent, “Ah- yes,” she frowned, and opened her mouth before wordlessly closing it, trying to grasp at memories in her head. “I-- have we met...?”

“Oh, no, not exactly,” He replied apologetically, “I hang around the Westrun Bar a lot. You all play there a lot...”

Vexhalia's eyes lit up finally with recognition, “Oh! So you've seen our band!”

“Yes,” He allowed the faintest smile to play across his face, “Among others. But I like yours the best.”

_'You would...'_ Was the phrase that came to Vex'halia's mind, but she had the sense not to say it out loud. His black leather jacket and pants, covered in safety pins and zippers, tagged him as the sort to enjoy the music they played. She would have responded further to the conversation, but he turned back towards the professor and returned to taking notes. Vex frowned at that, and went back to her own note- taking.

He didn't say anything else to her for the entire remainder of the class, just continued to lean against the wall and take notes. Vex'halia tried to take notes, but she just couldn't focus. Whether it was because of the lingering panic from her rushed entrance, or the distraction of unanswered questions about the the man in the neighboring seat, her mind couldn't connect the words coming out of the professor's mouth with coherent thoughts. She sighed- she'd just look over the lecture online later, though it would mean prying the laptop out of her brother's hands. She wished she could just skip it, and take the hit, but one more failed class and she'd lose her scholarship. And she, quite literally, couldn't afford that.

“What?” Vex started suddenly, realizing that the guy next to her had just said something.

“I said, my name's Percy,” He replied, sounding mildly amused. He was watching her through those circular glasses again. She shifted, feeling oddly exposed under that piercing gaze.

“Percy,” She repeated. That was.... one of the most pretentious names she'd ever heard. No wonder he was hanging out in the bars listening to punk bands.What were his parents thinking?

“Nice to meet you.”

He nodded, and once again returned to his note taking. Vex watched him for a moment more before turning back to her laptop. Who was this guy?

***

“Where's Tibs?” Kima glanced over as Vex worked on setting up her mic. Vex stopped, then grimaced, locking the mic stand into place.

“He's... not going to be playing with us anymore.”

“He what?!” Kima's eyes widened, and she set down the keyboard she'd been lugging across the stage, “Wait, what are we supposed to do tonight, then? We've got a gig!”

“We've got recordings,” Vex made a face, though, even as she suggested it. Kima's expression mirrored hers.

“Shitty ones- and we can't really improvise with them,” Kima crossed her arms and huffed, “Not to mention Westrun's sound system is, like, eighty years old.”

“Unless you can pull a bass player out of your ass in the next hour, we don't exactly have a choice,” Vex countered.

“Who's pulling what out of who's ass?” A voice called from across the room, and a short man wandered over to the stage, sticking out of the crowd on account of his garishly-coloured Hawaiian shirt.

“Scanlan,” Vex greeted, “You wouldn't happen to play bass, would you..? I mean, I know you're in Dransel's band, but we're kinda desperate.”

“How desperate?~” Scanlan came up to the edge of the platform, grinning a bit much as he rested his elbows on the front of the stage.

“Not that desperate,” Vex said, her tone flat. She glanced back at Kima, “Just go get the recording. We'll just make do tonight, and we'll look for a new Bass player tomorrow.”

Kima made a face and wandered off, leaving Vex to finish setting up. Scanlan pouted, watching Kima go, before looking back up to Vex.

“What happened to Tibsy? I thought he was your guy's Bass-extraordinaire?”

Vex let out a long groan. She could tell that she was going to have to explain what happened all night long, to every new person who walked in the door. “Tiberius is fine. He wasn't really matching too well with Vox Machina anyways... so he's starting his own band. They have a gig at Draconia tonight, so that's why we can't even use him for tonight.”

“Oh jeez, that's harsh,” Scanlan wrinkled his nose, “In any case, I can't play Bass anyways. I only do vocals.”

“Yeah, well, that's my job, so, too bad,” Vex sighed, and turned, trying to figure out what else she could set up before the rest of the band got there. Scanlan watched, humming a bit to the music that was playing over the speakers. The bar was open, but it was still early, so the crowd was scarce at best. People often didn't start showing up until the bands starting playing, which typically wasn't until seven. So Vex and the rest of Vox Machina typically used the hour or so beforehand setting up.

“Hey Vex! Sorry I'm late!!” Came a peppy voice as a shorter blonde woman pushed her way to the stage. Scanlan perked up, and adjusted his eye-aching shirt.

“Hey, Pike!”

“Oh, er, Hi Scanlan!” Pike offered him a quick nod before clambering up onto the stage, “I'm really sorry- I got caught up in some traffic. Anyone else here yet?”

“Kima- and she's getting the CD that's gonna be Tibs' replacement for tonight,” Vex sighed. Pike gave her a sympathetic look.

“I heard. Don't worry, though. I'm sure we can find someone else soon.”

“I hope.” Vex grimaced, and followed Pike to the back of the stage to help her start setting up her drum kit. Scanlan, a little miffed at Pike ignoring him, headed off to the bar, leaving the girls to set up. Kima returned after a few more minutes, and they managed to get the rest of the stage set up before the rest of the band came in through the side door and headed up onto the stage.

“Alright guys,” Vex took a breath, looking at the rest of the group, “Tiberius is out. Most of you should know by now... So tonight we're off the recording, got it? So... just follow along. I know it sucks, but we don't have much of a choice.”

“I hate playing along with that stupid thing,” whined Keyleth- a tall and thin girl with lengthy ginger hair. The sleeves of her black t-shirt had been ripped off, and the t-shirt was slit down the sides.

“I know Kiki, but we don't have a choice,” Vex replied, feeling a bit tired of repeating herself. “We'll find another damn bass player some other day. But tonight we just need to play with the fucking CD, alright?”

Keyleth winced, and grimaced, nodding. “Ok, ok, sorry..”

Vex didn't respond, just turned back to her mic, rubbing her temples. She was wanting to run tonight's show less and less. Everyone was frustrated about having to play with the CD, and she just wanted to get some sleep. Wait- review that Chemistry assignment first, then sleep. Damnit. Now she really didn't want to stick around. Unfortunately, she didn't have much choice. Keyleth could substitute for her in Vocals in a pinch, but they were already down one member. Their tips would suffer if they lost anymore, and Vex didn't need that happening any time soon. She was already down to her small stock of instant noodles at home- she didn't want to have to live on them for another month.

“Ok, guys, let's get in at least one practice before people actually start showing up. Come on- one- two- three-”

 

The night went pretty much as Vex had expected it to. The band was not in the best mood, and the crowd was mediocre at best.The recording cut out halfway through the set, and tips ended up being abysmal. Vex sighed as she counted out the last couple of dollars in the tin bucket they used to collect tips, and set them on the table. After it was split, there'd hardly be enough for a week's worth of canned soup for her and her brother. They could supplement it with food from the local pantry, but it would require figuring out when Keyleth wasn't volunteering, so they could avoid that awkward conversation. Not that they necessarily cared too much about being poor, but they didn't really want pity from anyone.

“Alright guys, good job,” Vex said, but there was no real feeling behind it, “Everyone stay safe on the way home, alright? And keep an eye out for bass players.”

“Right,” Kima snorted, “If I see one on my way home, I'll run him down.”

That, at the very least, managed to pull a chuckle from Vex, “Don't run him over TOO bad. We still need 'em to be able to play.”

“Excuse me...?” A third voice cut through the conversation, and Vex turned, seeking the source of the interruption. Her brows shot up in surprise when she found it was the boy from her Chemistry class- Percy, she remembered.

“Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt,” He smiled a bit, lifting what looked to be several dollar bills, “I didn't quite manage to get to the tip bucket in time. Mind if I add a little?”

“Oh, feel free to add as much as you want!” Pike laughed, stepping over and leaning down to take the cash, “Thank you!”

“Of course,” He gave a thin smile. “...though I'll admit, the group seems a touch.. thinner tonight.”

“Yeah...” Vex bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from snapping at Percy. He had no idea she'd been explaining it to every damn person who'd spoken to her that day. “Tibs has decided to take a... permanent leave from the group. We're going to be a bit 'thin' until we can find a new bass player.”

“You're looking for a bass player?” Percy paused, seeming to mull that over for a moment before admitting, “I can play.”

Vex just stared at the lanky boy. She could hardly form words. They needed a bass player, but this.. this was just too weird. She'd only just spoken to him today?! Unfortunately, before she could protest, her brother and several other members of the band were already asking Percy about when he was available, and if he had his own instrument. Then, before she could step forward and interrupt, he was leaving, heading out the door.

“Well, that was easy,” Vax snorted, stepping back over to her, “And he tipped pretty well too.”

Vex bit the inside of her cheek, and looked at him, “Yeah? Well, that's great,” She kept turning, then headed over to start taking down the microphone she'd set up. She wasn't sure entirely what it was, but something about the whole situation was bothering her. She couldn't trust good luck. Good stuff just didn't happen like that with her. So something- SOMETHING- had to be off.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! More chapters to come, especially if people like this one ^^; I've got several ideas for this fic, hopefully it will be a longer one. Lemme know if you like it!


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